Simone is our European correspondent. She writes entertaining and informative columns about travel, trends, fashion and gossip on the Continent (lots of links to external sites) as often as she can find time, generally about once a month. Please note that she is not a travel agent nor is she an expert on timeshare resorts in Europe. But if you want good information about things European-- from where to find Flea Markets to the nightlife in Paris-- Simone can tell you about it. E-mail simone@thetimesharebeat.com

IN Europe with Simone

The Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream is the  warm ocean current that joins North America and Europe.    The Gulf Stream is the  warm ocean current that lets Europe flower, lets people relax on beaches branded with warm sea waters, lets peaches grow, gives sun-kissed juicy tomatoes wonderful aromas, paints the Toscana in ochre summer colours, gives the Geneva lake borders the last touch of a warm golden autumn day - what a wine - and in Ibiza no one has to think about ice & cold winds. If you were to drop a bottle in the Gulfstream (CLICK-IN) off the New Jersey coast, it would PROBABLY make its way across the Atlantic toward Ireland or England in 5 months or so. If you were lucky, the bottle may find its way down the coast of Africa, then head west just north of the Equator and turn northwest until it washed back up onto the beaches of the eastern United States. This journey would take nearly three years to complete. (The current begins at the tip of Florida, where it is called the Florida Current, and ends off the coast of Ireland. The area off of the Northeast United States is the most interesting, dynamically speaking. Here, warm water breaks away from the stream in masses that are called eddies or rings .The Gulfstream also begins to meander, curving like a giant snake through the north Atlantic. )  Scientists have good reason to think that the interactions among the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic's sea ice, Greenland's ice cap and the atmosphere in the Labrador Sea and Davis Strait between Greenland and Canada are key players in the climate of the entire Earth.  The global record shows that since the late 19th century temperatures averaged across the globe have increased by around 1 degree Fahrenheit, with a good part of that increase occurring during the 1990s. As the history of the ice ages shows, Earth's temperature has swung widely in the past, long before humans could have affected the climate. Still, climate scientists say the evidence is strong that humans are responsible for at least some of the warming since early in the 20th century. How global warming occurs  (CLICK-IN AND GET SOME INFO) Climate scientists also have strong reasons for saying that as humans continue adding gasses to the air, warming is likely to continue through this century USA Today research by Jack Williams  While snow cover and sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere are expected to continue decreasing, and glaciers should continue retreating, (as they have during the 20th century) the Antarctic ice sheet should grow. This is because warmer air can hold more humidity, which will increase the amount of snow in Antarctica. This in turn, will offset some of the water being added by melting glaciers and some melting of the Greenland ice cap. Global warming could raise sea levels A close look at rising sea levels during the past 100 years has convinced climate scientists that Earth s oceans will continue to rise as the enhanced greenhouse effect (CLICK-IN) persists into the 21st Century. How much of a rise is still open for debate. But, levels between 10 and 20 inches above what they are today, enough to cause flooding, are expected if carbon dioxide a greenhouse gas is allowed to double by the year 2100.   Source: USA TODAY research by Chris Cappella, graphic by Kevin A. Kepple  Understanding polar ice By Jack Williams, USATODAY.com Antarctic ice seen from an LC-130 in January 1999. At the beginning of the 20th century, the world's attention turned to the polar regions as explorers raced to be first to reach the North Pole and then the South Pole. Going into the 21st century, the Arctic and Antarctic are the focus of scientific attention because they hold answers to questions about the Earth's past, present and future climate. A great deal of today's scientific attention focuses on the ice that defines the polar regions. Sea ice floats on the Arctic Ocean and on the southernmost parts of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans around Antarctica. Miles-thick sheets of ice cover most of Greenland and Antarctica.  The importance of ice in the Arctic and Antarctic The links below take you to pages with links to USATODAY.com stories and to outside Web sites with further information: Polar ice affects global climate Ice cores tell the stories of past climates If polar ice melted, it would raise global sea levels Icebergs can endanger ships Ice creates a unique environment for plants and animals ~ Antarctic ice is a climate force ~   Scientific questions   Drilling into the past   Sea level rise   The ice shelves   Ice's global role   Ice on the Web April 20,1998 - Every minute, ice claims another 20 to 30 square miles of the ocean around Antarctica. By the end of the Southern Hemisphere winter in September, sea ice will be floating on about 7.2 million square miles of ocean, about twice the size of the USA, including Alaska. http://www.usatoday.com/weather/antarc/awais0.htm   >>>> CLICK IN AT YOUR CHOICE               . . . . .  And what has this to do with the Gulf Stream and Europe? When, as many poeple and scientists believe , the global  warming will change our climate -  and the ice shelVEs should melt- the gulf stream would disaPpear or change his way  ~ no doubt he would not like this kind of constEllations  'image' of the North Atlantic (The warmest temperatures are dark red (85 F) and the coldest are grey (32 F). The arrows show the predominate surface currents of the North Atlantic).  ~There would be no more fun at ibiza, no more palms & sun at mallorca, no more paris, the friendly city of lights - deep winter in italy for hundreDs OF YEARS? GROWING ICE EVERYWHERE? IT WAS ONCE SO -  ALREADY SOME AGES AGO . . .  It has been known for the better part of a decade that Greenland and the polar Atlantic region experienced ocean-driven flip flops in temperature every few thousand years during the last glacial period approximately 80,000 to 100,000 years ago," said Sachs and Lehman. ( two climate scientists)   "What is new here is the clear evidence that, like the polar Atlantic, the warm Atlantic was also undergoing related, very large, and very rapid - in terms of degree per decade-temperature changes." The circulation of the North Atlantic conveyor transports warm, tropical water north to the polar areas, via the Gulfstream and North Atlantic Drift currents. Once north, the salty warm water cools and then sinks to the bottom of the ocean, a process that draws more warm surface water from the south. "This north-south conveyor is what keeps northern Europe far warmer than the Canadian provinces at the same latitude- in short, what keeps London from having a climate like Newfoundland," said Sachs Our study shows that previously documented disruption of ocean currents during the last ice age produced unexpectedly large and rapid temperature changes in the warm Atlantic Ocean. That implies that Greenhouse warming - which could similarly disrupt ocean currents -- could have consequences more global than some current predictions," said Sachs   Scared? A kind of war - we "produce" everyday against ourselves ? Selfmade terrorism against nature - who fights back? Is "production" the only way to help us to survive ? To have enough work, enough food . . . . Give your fantasy room: we will wear big warm coats (lots of people having work, to create and produce them ), we will have lots to do to warm up our living rooms, we will have to construct quick slights, organize snow-festivals and look at the wonders ice & snow can offer. Paris may glow in lights reflected by millions of snow cristals ~and the wind will blow, as in millions of years already before.  Maybe, we of the Northern places of the globe have to wander to the Southern parts of the world, where the natives have to host us friendly, as we do it now (!) with the guests coming from poor countries of the Southern - to the richer North ~ like Europe or the States. " Changing routes like the Gulf Stream ". "Temporas mutantur et mutamur in illis" ("The seasons change ... and we change with them")~ an old European language, from a sunken culture.   from Europe for you  Simone ~   http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wworks0.htm  history of the gulf stream:http://www.keyshistory.org/gulfstream.html

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